Belt buckle with slidable gripper element



July 30, 1957 M.. J, CARPINELLA mm BUCKLE wm SLIDAIBILE GRIPPEBELEMENT Filed Sept. 21, 1953 INVENTOR Michael J. Cur

inella BY ORNEY United States Patent BELT BUCKLE WITH SLIDABLE GRIPPER ELEMENT Michael J. Carpinella, Waterbury, Conn, assignor to Scovill Manufacmring Company, Waterbury, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application September 21, 1953, Serial No. 381,375

1 Claim. (Cl. 2477) This invention relates to adjustable buckles and particularly to buckles having a slidable gripping member attached thereto and mounting a snap fastener element for engagement with a complemental snap fastener element carried by some other part of the belt or strap. One example of such as buckle shown in the Huelster Patent No 2,486,652, was satisfactory when used on cloth straps or the like, but when this Huelster buckle was applied to a strap made of plastic material, it would slip along the strap in spite of the gripping element due to the slippery and smooth character of the plastic material.

Gne object of my invention therefore is to provide an improved buckle of the .above kind which will securely grip or bind on the strap in any desired adjusted position even when the strap is made of smooth plastic or similar material. This result is accomplished by a simple expedient without adding to the cost of the article. A notch or arcuate cutout along the outer edge of each strap-receiving slot in line with the the sliding disc gripper element causes the strap to bend around a longer circumferential portion of the edge of the disc and thus to be securely held thereby.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the accompanying drawing and the following description:

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a buckle and a cooperating fastener member attached respectively to the opposite end of a strap.

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the buckle as it appears detached from the strap.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the buckle frame, per se, and

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. 1 showing the buckle as it appears with the complemental snap fastener elements in attached relationship.

One adaptation of my invention is illustrated in Fig. 1 wherein the buckle is shown attached to the end portions and 11 of a belt or a strap support, the end 11 having snap fastener socket 12 of conventional construction attached thereto whereas the belt end 10 has a buckle 13 adjustably supported thereon.

The buckle 13 comprises a flat support frame 14 having arcuate ends 15 and 16 and a central bar portion 17 spaced from the arcuate ends by substantially arcuate shaped slots 18 and 19 through which the strap is adapted to be threaded. The slots 18 and 19 are preferably symmetrically arranged relative to the center of the buckle rame 1 In order to provide a gripping means on the buckle to grip the belt or strap a strap-gripping disc 20 having a serrated circumferential edge 21 is provided. The disc 2% is positioned against one surface of the central bar portion 17 and is formed with a centrally projecting post 22 which projects through an elongated guide slot 23 in the central bar portion. The free end of the post 22 is adapted to be rivted or upset within the enlarged head 2,800,697 Patented July 30, 1957 of a stud member 24 having a flange 25 engaged against the opposite side of the'buckle frame 14 (see Fig. 5).

Specifically each of the arcuate slots 18 and 19 are formed to provide an innermost convex edge 26 having a radius with the center substantially in the center of the opposite slot. The slots 18 and 19 have rounded ends 27 and along the outer edge and centrally of each slot there is a centrally located arcuate cutout 30 in lengthwise alignment with the guide slot 23. In other words, the centers of the arcuate cutouts 30 are in alignment with the center of the disc 20 along the longitudinal center line of the buckle. The radius of this cutout 30 should be approximately about equal to the radius of the gripper disc 20 and preferably I use a radius that is equal to the mean radius of the outer radius and root radius of the teeth element 21 on the gripper disc 20.

It will be noted that the corners 31 which are the points of juncture of the arcuate cutouts 30 with the outer edges 28 of the slots are closer to the opposite convex edges 26 than the side portions of such slots. In other Words, the outer side portions of the slots diverge or Widen as they extend away from such corners. The purpose of this construction is to permit relatively easy threading of the strap through the slots while at the same time maintaining maximum gripping effect of the disc 011 the strap.

T he operation of the buckle is best illustrated in Fig. 5. The strap it) is assembled to the buckle 13 by first being threaded through one of the slots 18 and 19 from the underside of the frame 14 then passed over the gripping disc 20 and down through the other of said slots after which the buckle may he slipped along the strap end 10 to any desired adjusted position. The stud member 24 may then be snapped into engagement with the socket 12 on the strap end 11. When opposing forces are applied to the strap ends 10 and 11 the strap gripping disc 20 will he slid toward one end of the buckle frame 14 to grip the belt and prevent relative sliding of the buckle to the strap. As specifically seen in Fig. 5, if a force is applied to the strap 10, as indicated by the arrow-A, and an opposing force is applied to the strap 11, as indicated by the arrow B, the buckle frame will tend to move to the right and the gripper disc 20 and integral stud member 24 by reason of its, connection with the socket 12 will move to the left and cause the teeth of the gripper disc to get a sharp bite into the strap material and bend it substantially at right angles as indicated by C throughout the full expanse of the arcuate slot 39. By this construction and arrangement the maximum sector of the teeth of the gripping disc are directly engaged with the strap material to assure a non-slipping engagement of the buckle upon any plastic strap material.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention I do not Wish to be limited thereby as the scope of my invention is best defined by the following claim.

I claim:

An adjustable buckle comprising a frame having strapreceiving slots extending crosswise thereof and of generally arcuate shape, said frame having a central bar portion between said strap-receiving slots which bar portion has a guide slot centrally located and extending lengthwise of the buckle frame, a strap-gripping disc disposed on one side of said frame which disc has a central post extending through said guide slot, and a snap fastener element attached to said post on the opposite side of said frame so that said disc and fastener element are slidable as a unit along said guide slot, the outer edge of each of said strap receiving slots having an arcuate cutout, the centers of the arcs of said cutouts being in alignment with the center of said movable disc along the longitudinal center line of the buckle, the radius of each cutout being substantially equal to that of the disc, and those portions of each strap receiving slot at opposite sides of said arcuate cutout having outer edges which extend laterally from opposite ends of said arcuate cutout to provide corners at the junctures of said outer edges of the side portions with the arcuate cutout.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Bedford Oct. 28, 

